Twitter introduces non-linear timelines

Twitter has today launched opt-in non-linear timelines for users of its short messaging social media platform.

Currently tweets load on users screens in a reverse-chronological linear order. The new functionality will display what Twitter believe are the tweets you are most likely to care about at the top of the feed, ensuring that you don’t miss out on valuable information when you’re not using the service.

Once the timeline refreshes, it will display the tweets in the same live linear order that users are familiar with today.

The option is available for iOS, Android, and web users immediately. The function can be turned on by selecting the function in a users Settings.

Earlier this week Twitter users took to the platform with the hashtag #RIPtwitter to criticise what was perceived to be a change to users feeds that would permanently arrange them into a non-linear stream. The outrage prompted Twitter chief officer Jack Dorsey to address the concerns.

I *love* real-time. We love the live stream. It’s us. And we’re going to continue to refine it to make Twitter feel more, not less, live!

You follow hundreds of people on Twitter — maybe thousands — and when you open Twitter, you may feel like you’ve missed their most important Tweets. We hear this from people every day. Starting today, you can choose a new timeline feature that helps you catch up on the most important Tweets from the people you follow.

When you first open Twitter, the Tweets you’re most likely to care about will appear at the top of your timeline – they are recent, and in reverse chronological order. Then the rest of the Tweets will be displayed right underneath, also in reverse chronological order, as always. At any point, just refresh to see all new Tweets in the live, up-to-the-second experience that you already know and love!

This option is available to everyone on Twitter for iOS, Android, and the web. To try it today, go into your settings and choose ‘Show me the best Tweets first’ within the timeline section. We’ve already noticed that people who have used this new feature tend to Retweet and Tweet more, which is good for everyone! Over the coming weeks, we’ll turn this feature on for you and send a notification in your timeline when we do. If you love it, great — we love it too! If you don’t, you can easily turn it off in settings.

We’d love your thoughts on how to keep making Twitter better, and will be listening and refining the experience over time.